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talkpoliticsThere are so many shootings in the US, with so many victims, that the fact that the police are still wondering whether to treat the latest California massacre as an actual terrorist attack or not, does not appear to be that relevant at this point. We've got to put this in context, so here's some:
Number of people killed annually by firearms in the US: 30,000+
Number of people shot and murdered every day: 30+
Homicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-24 year-olds.
And the primary cause of death among African Americans of age 18-35.
Costs of gun violence:
Medical costs, costs of the criminal justice system, security precautions such as metal detectors, and reductions in the quality of life because of fear of gun violence.
U.S. lifetime medical costs for gunshot injuries total an estimated $2.3 billion.
U.S. taxpayers pay for almost half ($1.1 billion or 49%) of lifetime medical costs for gunshot injuries.
For those more prone to paying attention to visuals rather than typed text, here's a neat graphical rendering of the gun crisis in the US.
The Gun Violence Archive (GVA) also keeps track of all the data, and presents it in comprehensive graphs and maps. Like this one, which represents all the major gun-related incidents to date.
Now, as for the San Bernardino attack, whether it's terrorism or not, that's not really the point here, is it? I mean, it's easy to compare the number of victims to terrorism in the US and put them in the context of the ongoing quasi-civil-war (because that's essentially what the gun crisis in the US is). We've got a similar problem with car accidents in my country, which we call The War on Our Roads. There are multiple factors for it, from bad infrastructure, to the general bad state of our cars, and not least importantly, our horrible driving culture. Could that be said about the gun problem in the US as well? Let's put our hand on our heart and honestly answer the question for ourselves, is the "gun infrastructure" of the American society as sound as some gun lobbyists would have us believe?
Number of people killed annually by firearms in the US: 30,000+
Number of people shot and murdered every day: 30+
Homicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-24 year-olds.
And the primary cause of death among African Americans of age 18-35.
Costs of gun violence:
Medical costs, costs of the criminal justice system, security precautions such as metal detectors, and reductions in the quality of life because of fear of gun violence.
U.S. lifetime medical costs for gunshot injuries total an estimated $2.3 billion.
U.S. taxpayers pay for almost half ($1.1 billion or 49%) of lifetime medical costs for gunshot injuries.
For those more prone to paying attention to visuals rather than typed text, here's a neat graphical rendering of the gun crisis in the US.
The Gun Violence Archive (GVA) also keeps track of all the data, and presents it in comprehensive graphs and maps. Like this one, which represents all the major gun-related incidents to date.
Now, as for the San Bernardino attack, whether it's terrorism or not, that's not really the point here, is it? I mean, it's easy to compare the number of victims to terrorism in the US and put them in the context of the ongoing quasi-civil-war (because that's essentially what the gun crisis in the US is). We've got a similar problem with car accidents in my country, which we call The War on Our Roads. There are multiple factors for it, from bad infrastructure, to the general bad state of our cars, and not least importantly, our horrible driving culture. Could that be said about the gun problem in the US as well? Let's put our hand on our heart and honestly answer the question for ourselves, is the "gun infrastructure" of the American society as sound as some gun lobbyists would have us believe?
